You are warned for a reason

Once again, I found myself this week struggling to do something new with my posting. This time, though, instead of passively waiting at the water's edge, sitting to see what would come to me, i decided to be a little more proactive. Theoretically, one should be able to walk the circumferance of a pond. That's what a pond is, afterall- a circualr body of water contained in a small space. But as I attempted to do this I encountered several obstacles, many of which entranced me, making the struggle worthwhile. 

I showed up, and before beginning to walk to my predesignated spot, I realized I had an oppurtunity to view the water as I had never had before. The storm had pushed much of the surrouding palntlife out of the way, making the water much more visable. I started circling the pond, coming to a tiny bank accross from an obviously man-mad shore of conrete and stones. The amount of water separating me fromt he opposing shore was miniscule. Had I been wearing big rain boots, I could have splashed right through it. In order to get to that bank, my new mission, I had to go all the way around, a proces which involved exssting through the gap in the fence, crashing through dry, overgrown wildlife, climbing over the fence, and carefully navigating down a tricky hill. 

As I was doing all this, I looked down at my body, as one does. several burrs had attached themselves to my sweater and legs. They startled me. It wasn't so much that I minded their existence; they were'nt painful or even particularly annoying to pry off if you pulled in the right direction. But I hadn't expected them to be there. They scared me in the sense that they were out of place on my body. I have normally have a similar reaction when I look down and see a spider on my foot or on the floor. Of course, I generally get a little more anxious over a spider, but the first effect was the same. 

As I walked down to the created bank in the river, I noticed from the cavernous divets in the white conrete that several stones were missing. The bank that we had tried to develop had been destryoed, just by the effect water and wind had on the surrounding area. I kicked a stone into the water, watching the still water in the inlet combine with the waves the wind was creating on the surrounding water. 

I decided I didn't really want to walk back up through the shrubbery I had just crashed through. Instead, I started climbing through a prickly plant, up the side of an inclined concrete retaining wall. The thorns on the plant dug into my clothes and scrathched the surface fo my skin. I couldn not grasp them to assist my ascent upward, but I could delicately place two fingers between the thorns, preventing myself from falling as the wind pushed against my face and body. Eventually, as I reached the apex of the retaining wall, several thorns attached themselves onto my hat, preventing me from moving any further. At that moment, a huge gush of wind  started to blow, and I briefly paused in panic. If I fell, I would probably be fine. Probably. Cold and wet, but I don't think I would have crack my head open. Most likely. Fortunately, the wind subsided, I managed to dislodge my hat from the thorns and stomp through the remainder of the surrounding forestry and back onto the grassy shore. 

As I walked along, escaping from the fenced in area, I noticed the hawk that I constantly see surveying the Bryn Mawr campus. Sara and I had once tried to name him. Sara had suggested Hawk as a name, which i hastily shot down. "why?" she asked. "If that was any other animal other than a hawk, you would think that's an awsome name." "Exactly." I responded. I wondered if he was here to check in on me. Had my presence created such a disturbance that I needed to be warned, needed to be prevented? He flew around me a couple times, riding the wind like a kite, allowing me to see his blod red beak before gliding up and over the walls of Rhoads, and out of sight.